Sir Alex Ferguson escaped any sanction from the FA yesterday for his touchline
behaviour on Boxing Day because, according to the authorities and Mike Dean,
the referee, the Manchester United manager’s antics looked worse than they
actually were.

But surely that is the point — looking bad by marching on to the pitch to
confront the referee; looking bad by snarling and finger-jabbing in the face
of a linesman; looking bad by menacing the same official throughout the
second half is more than enough to warrant sanctions from the governing
body. In fact, looking bad is enough to demand action from